Search - Mutantes :: MUTANTES - NOVO MILLENNIUM

Very good retrospective

Sean M. Kelly | Portland, Oregon United States | 04/29/2001

(5 out of 5 stars)

"While the David Byrne produced "Everything Is Possible" is a decent, if quite biased, look at the music of Os Mutantes, this retrospective by Musicrama (which has released many excellent retrospective lps for Gilberto Gil, Gal Costa, and many others, all of which are worth looking into.) is a much more ecclectic look at this amazing band, focusing mainly on their 1970's output.The growth of Mutantes by this period can be easily charted by listening to this album. The classic lineup's output from the early 70's ("Technicolor," "Jardim Electrico," and "Mutantes E Seus Cometas"), is a glorious fusion of traditional Brazilian styles of music with increasing amounts of studio gagdetry, and a subtle shift in the music itself. One senses a band ready to break out and do its own thing- which is exactly what happened. Rita Lee left the band by the end of 1972 (and one more lp, "Hoje E O Premiero Dia Do Resto da Sua Via," incorrectly called a Rita solo lp), and the band's first post-Rita lp, "'A' 'E' O 'Z'," is a wonderful ELP meets Yes style Progressive rock effort, complete with Arnaldo's Melotron and Hammond organ musings. The band never looked back.This compilation lp has all eras of Os Mutantes covered, from the 1st lp through the mid 70's. This is by far the most complete retrospective (thus far) on the market. Fans of the early Os Mutantes period will find fewer of their favorites on here, but the compensation in order to show off some of the yet-to-be-domestically-released prog-rocker Mutantes ("AEOZ" can be had domestically, though at a price) is justifiable.A glorious retrospective that is an interesting cross-section of Mutantes!"